The Game of Whispers is an interactive and generative artwork that draws parallels between political intrigue in the Mughal Empire during the reign of Shah Jahan (ruled 1628-1658) and the role of AI-driven disinformation in today’s world. Set within a digitized rendition of Delhi’s historic Red Fort, the piece explores how rumors, manipulation, and shifting power dynamics mirror the way modern technology, particularly AI, shapes narratives and distorts truth.

Created by Parag K. Mital and his studio, the Garden in the Machine, and commissioned by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through its Art + Technology program, The Game of Whispers is both a video game and a five-channel art video. Its story unfolds in the court of Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Majal as a shrine to his favored wife, Empress Mumtaz Mahal. It focuses on the machinations of his son, Prince Aurangzeb, who in real life rebelled after Shah Jahan named his eldest son, Prince Dara Shikoh, his heir apparent. In 1658, Prince Aurangzeb imprisoned their ailing father and went to war against his older brothers, Dara Shikoh chief among them. Ultimately Prince Aurangzeb captured Dara Shikoh, paraded him through Delhi in chains, had him murdered and sent his severed head to their father in a box.

At the heart of The Game of Whispers are non-playable characters (NPCs)—game characters not controlled by players but by AI—who are modeled after these and other figures from historic Mughal-era miniature paintings. These NPCs are driven by advanced large language models like those powering ChatGPT, allowing them to engage in lifelike conversations that create new layers of intrigue and deepen the cycle of disinformation. As the characters spread rumors and react to what other characters are doing, viewers witness how a single falsehood can ripple through the palace, influencing decisions and relationships.

The artwork also speaks to India’s current political climate, where differing narratives about the Mughal period continue to drive tensions between Hindus and Muslims. The Game of Whispers highlights how history too can be twisted to serve competing ideologies. In doing so, the work invites reflection on the fragile nature of truth in the past as well as in our AI-driven present.

Using images from Mughal miniatures, Mital’s team built animated characters and inserted them into the game world.

Visually it presents a richly detailed, 2D world modeled after historical collections of Mughal miniatures, primarily that of LACMA, which co-oorganized its exhibition at the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. Within this simulated environment, audiences follow the interconnected storylines of five NPCs. As the characters spread rumors and react to the actions of others, viewers witness how a single falsehood can ripple through the palace, influencing decisions and relationships.

The technology powering The Game of Whispers is one-of-a-kind, developed by the Garden in the Machine for crafting and bringing autonomous characters to life inside games. The avatars are imbued with unique personalities, engage in lifelike conversations, and independently navigate their digital worlds. Each time a simulation or a game starts, an entirely unique unfolding of events occurs, due to the probabilistic nature of AI models.

The five main characters in The Game of Whispers are Javed, a gardener; Khadija Banu, a confidante; Empress Muntaz Mahal; Prince Dara Shikoh, and his nemesis, Prince Aurangzeb. 

Parag K. Mital, Ph.D., is an Indian-American artist and interdisciplinary researcher at the forefront of computational arts and machine learning. Based in Los Angeles, Mital lectures at UCLA’s Design Media Arts department and directs the Garden in the Machine, a creative studio specializing in AI and machine learning. His scientific background includes machine learning, deep learning, film cognition, eye-tracking studies, EEG and fMRI research. His artistic practice spans generative film, augmented reality hallucinations and AI-powered storytelling, tackling questions of identity, memory, and the nature of perception. He has also taught, primarily on computational arts and machine learning, at the University of Edinburgh; Goldsmiths, University of London (where he received his Ph.D. in 2014); Dartmouth College; California Institute of the Arts, and the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Bengaluru. He has collaborated with the likes of Massive Attack, Sigur Rós, David Lynch, Es Devlin and Refik Anadol. Among the projects he has contributed to is Anadol’s WDCH Dreams, a Columbia DSL Breakthrough Prize winner in 2019.